Cleanzine: your weekly cleaning and hygiene industry newsletter 18th April 2024 Issue no. 1110
Your industry news - first
The original and best - for over 20 years!
We strongly recommend viewing Cleanzine full size in your web browser. Click our masthead above to visit our website version.
Confidence in NHS grade UV-C light robots boosts care home infection prevention & control
SARS-CoV-2 remains an ongoing threat in care homes across the country, but that's not just the only dangerous pathogen for older and vulnerable residents including the various mutated strains of SARS-CoV-2. What do you do if you manage a care home and there is an outbreak?
Infection prevention control (IPC) is the cornerstone and needs to be thorough, fast and safe. A traditional deep clean is time consuming, uses chemicals, and rooms and facilities are not always returned immediately, as often the space will need more time to clear. What if there were to be an outbreak and there was an easier and more efficient way to deal with it?
This is what happened at Millard House Care Home in Essex. There was a SARS - CoV-2 outbreak and the manager, Cristine Duran, called in Microstrategies and its NHS grade UV-C light robots to undertake a deep clean to ensure a safe and healthy environment.
Millard House is a large care home with 34 residents and hygiene and confidence must remain a top priority at all times. "We have a lot of vulnerable residents so we need to disinfect the complex including bedrooms, corridors, reception, offices, bathrooms, lounges and dining areas after an outbreak," explains Cristine, "While keeping the impact on our facilities, residents and staff to a minimum."
The high-profile NHS grade UV-C disinfection process not only rapidly deep-cleaned the care home, but also reassured and boosted the confidence of staff and residents that their well-being was being taken seriously.
UV-C light and robots is proving to be one of the best methods for quick and thorough IPC, killing 99.999% of all pathogens - including viruses, bacterium and fungal spores without using any chemicals. As soon as the robots have made an area safe it is immediately ready to be used again. Visual validation stickers, which change colour after UV-C light, and a heat map of the area show that the area has been disinfected.
Adds Cristine: "I've never seen anything like that, so quick and with minimal fuss, no chemicals and the visual validation sticker and colour coding proves what has been done in each room."
- The process is fast
- No chemicals are used
- 99.999% of pathogens are destroyed
- The space, or room is immediately available for use once the robot has finished
- Highly visible process to staff and the public
- The only NHS approved UV-C light robotic service
The use of NHS grade UV-C light robots is rapidly growing in the UK and is now available as a service to care homes to ensure a safe and healthy environment.
12th August 2021